Georgians Plan Whites-Only Prom Party

Associated Press ^ | 05-01-03

[Brian S]

ALBANY, Ga. May 1 — A year after holding their first integrated prom, some students at Taylor County High School have decided to again hold a separate, private party for whites only.

While many whites say they still plan to attend next week's integrated prom, the decision to hold the whites-only prom this Friday saddened senior Gerica McCrary, who helped organize last year's dance.

"I cried," said McCrary, who is black. "The black juniors said, 'Our prom is open to everyone. If you want to come, come.'"

Juniors are in charge of planning the prom each year and last year they decided to have just one dance the first integrated prom in 31 years in the rural Georgia county 150 miles south of Atlanta.

Until then, parents and students organized separate proms for whites and blacks after school officials stopped sponsoring dances, in part because they wanted to avoid problems arising from interracial dating.

This year, a small number of white juniors decided they wanted a separate prom.

"They influenced the others," said McCrary, who plans to major in biology at Columbus State University. "They didn't vote on anything. They said, 'This is what we're going to do.'"

The school has 439 students, 232 of them black. McCrary and a white friend passed out fliers informing students of all races that they would be welcome at the May 9 prom at nearby Fort Valley State University.

The private prom is Friday night 50 miles away in Columbus.

Erin Posey, a white senior, said the entire junior class joined together in hosting last year's prom, but this year's junior class wasn't as unified.

"I think a lot of seniors were disappointed," she said. "Now we have to choose between two groups of friends."

Posey plans to attend both proms.

"I had some white friends who were not going to the other (inclusive) prom," she said. "I wanted to have time with everybody. I'll have a lot of (black) friends there, too. A lot more of the seniors are going to be at the mixed one."

After school integration, separate proms were common in the rural South, but Taylor County was among the last to cling to the practice.

Glenda Latimore, a 1972 graduate, was in the first class to have separate black and white proms. Now her 16-year-old son, Gerard, is preparing for prom night.

As the black junior class president, her son helped organize the open-to-all prom. The class also has a white president.

"I would have liked to see it together this year," said Latimore, an outfielder on the school's baseball team. "My class would have, too. It just didn't happen this year."

Glenda Latimore said relatives in Philadelphia and New Jersey laugh when they read about Taylor County's prom. She said residents here are "nice and friendly," but they still have a problem with proms.

"It seems like it's something secret," she said. "The white people are afraid to speak up against the separation.

"But I went to a black prom and I had fun," she said. "It didn't kill me, so I tell my son, 'Just go to the prom and have fun. Don't come out hating anyone.'"

[mabelkitty]

Problems of inter-racial dating?

My white mother married my Native American father.

Sure glad she didn't have hicks in her family.

[mabelkitty]

Not if this is a public school.

[ladyjane]

I don't understand why this is upsetting to Freepers. Didn't we just decide that it was okay to keep women out of golf clubs? By the same reasoning it's okay to keep blacks out of proms. Where's Hootie? He'll explain it all.

[aristeides]

C-SPAN had a phone-in segment a few days ago where they only accepted calls from minorities.

[Guillermo]

Agreed.

[KantianBurke]

the bi-racial prom that's being organizd by the school is public. The racist one is technically a private party. Thus they have every right to act like rednecks and we have every right to call them on it.

[Guillermo]

It's not on public school grounds...

[mabelkitty]

Me thinks the parents put the Juniors up to this because they are hicks.

I bet those six families were conniving about how to plan this all year.

[lugsoul]

Oh, goodness. They're gonna destroy our heritage.

[mabelkitty]

Jeez! Are you kidding me?

I must be out of the loop big time (I don't have kids).

[Guillermo]

No matter what the percentages are, it will always be freedom of association.

No one has a right to go to a private party they are not invited to.

[MineralMan]

"Me thinks the parents put the Juniors up to this because they are hicks.

I bet those six families were conniving about how to plan this all year."

I'll bet you're right. What a sad thing for their children, to have to grow up in a racist household. I do hope they learn better when they move out and grow up.

Dumb, dumb, dumb.

[mabelkitty]

Good point. I missed that.

This is bizarre.

[MineralMan]

"No one has a right to go to a private party they are not invited to."

I don't think anyone's arguing with that. It's just that what these kids are doing is just stupid. They can do it if they want, but it'd be really nice if nobody showed up for their little racist prom.

[mabelkitty]

Private club, public school.

Big difference.

[demosthenes the elder]

nah, it is just "freedom of association" as protected under the 1stAmendment, so it isn't "wrong".
It does appear to be silly, however.
*shrugging*

[geaux]

I don't think you're the one who's out of the loop; I think that highschool is the one that needs to catch up with the times. The thing that really surprised me was that the ACLU was nowhere to be seen.

[Fraulein]

I understand that. I'm just surprised that in the year 2003 anything like freedom of association still exists. I'm surprised that lawyers haven't already flocked to the scene. Shocked, I tell ya!

[mabelkitty]

I got it.